The present invention relates to an air conditioner and, more particularly, to an air conditioner controlling the room temperature on the basis of a set temperature.
There have been known air conditioners having a pair of heat exchangers which are provided outdoors and indoors, respectively, for performing a process of heat exchange using a refrigerant, a compressor for compressing the refrigerant, a four-way valve for changing the direction in which the refrigerant flows, a capillary tube, and so on, and performing air conditioning in various operational modes such as heating, cooling, and dehumidifying modes by changing the direction of the four-way valve or the like.
Such an air conditioner is provided with a temperature sensor for detecting the room temperature and it, in cooling or heating, achieves the effect of air conditioning generally by causing the room temperature to agree with a preset target temperature. Recently, such a type of air conditioner, a so-called inverter type air conditioner, has also become popular, in which the operating frequency of the compressor is made changeable by an inverter such that the operating frequency, hence the operating capacity, of the compressor is changed according to a change in the air conditioning load and, thereby, the room temperature is accurately controlled with respect to the set temperature.
However, it is known as a characteristic of the senses of human beings that when a person is placed in constant environmental conditions (constant air temperature, humidity, air draft, etc.) for a long time, he or she becomes used to the environment and, as a result, the person, even if he felt comfortable at the beginning of his being placed in the environment, gradually comes to feel less comfortable. Consequently, even after the room temperature has reached the level of the preset target temperature through the operation of the air conditioner, a person who has stayed in the room over a certain length of time and, hence, become used to the environmental conditions, may change the target temperature to have a more comfortable feeling. As a result, there has frequently been wasteful consumption of energy.